Some Kinda Love
by Mrs Prongs Mrs Padfoot
Summary: CHAPTER SIX POSTED. James Potter's life is perfect if you can ignore his moody girlfriend, paying the other Marauder's bills, and the creepy coworker who keeps hitting on him. But when he discovers that Lily is three weeks pregnant...
1. Chapter One

Some Kinda Love

Chapter One

By Mrs. Padfoot

Disclaimer: As usual, a lot of it doesn't belong to us, but rather to J.K. Rowling. The plot is actually ours, too! As well as four whole characters.

Author's Note: I know, I know, it took awhile. And actually, it's the PoA DVDs that made us write this at all (I really honestly adore that movie). We were considering writing a WY-universe tie-up one-shot thing, but then we didn't feel like it. And then we were thinking of writing a Christmas fic, because we are both quite Christmasy people. But we thought that it would be hard to top last year's Christmas story. Anyway, the first scene of this was actually written a long time ago, but being us (our absence was kindof mostly my fault this time) it took awhile to finish. Anyway, Mrs. Prongs is in a writing sort of a mood, so the next chapter shouldn't be _too _far along, and if it is, I give you permission to rip out _both _of our throats.

&&

The miniscule flat inhabited by James Potter and Lily Evans was always in uproar in the morning.

Lily was convinced that there was a rule somewhere that said that in every relationship, there was a morning person and then the one who was not a morning person. Right next to the rule that said that one half of every couple was neat, while the other was a slob.

Just her bloody luck that both she and James were messy night owls.

"Crap, where's my wand, Lily?" asked James, sloshing some hot coffee onto her as he passed her.

"Ow," she whined, "why the hell are you asking me? And be careful with that coffee, goddammit."

"Sorry," called his muffled voice from their bedroom. "When did I have it last? Wait, here it is... no, this is yours..."

Lily sighed and rubbed at the brown stain on her blouse, wondering if it was worth rubbing out. It was another one of those bloody which bad situation would you rather be in questions. And Lily didn't particularly fancy going to class with a wet shirt _or _a coffee stained shirt.

James whizzed past her again, managing to slide her wand into her hand as he slid past.

"Wait, James," said Lily. "Should I change my blouse? Coffee stains, you know."

"No time," he said distractedly, coming back out of the kitchen with his wand in hand. "We have to go."

"No, but, this is my favorite blouse," she moaned, picking at the stain with her dirty fingernails.

"Come _on_," he groaned.

"You just don't _get _it," she whined loudly.

"Well, you just don't get that class starts in ten minutes," said James, already at the fireplace, "so come on."

"Fine," mumbled Lily grumpily, shrinking through the tiny hallway towards the fireplace, where James was standing, looking vaguely confused.

"Where's the floo powder, Lily?" he asked, bending over and looking up the fireplace, as if expecting it to magically appear in the chimney.

"Not up there, stupid," she said with a touch of irritation and fondness, "How did you manage to lose the floo powder, anyway? Isn't it always on the mantle?"

"Apparently not," said James, suddenly pulling the red and blue jar (handmade by James, Age 6) from the pocket of a worn green jacket hanging nearby. "You left it in your pocket?"

"Oh," said Lily, a flush creeping up her cheeks. "Sorry."

"S'okay," he mumbled, grabbing a bit and stepping into the fireplace, handing the jar to her.

She flinched a little as the green flames engulfed him before climbing into the sooty fireplace herself.

&&

"Morning, James," said Professor Wells (of Astronomy) as James emerged from the fireplace, dusting himself off lightly. "Running a little late?"

"Just a bit, sir," said James, glancing at the clock. Three minutes to go.

"James, it's _Harold_," said the balding astronomer, casually sliding his arm around James. "I'm not your teacher anymore. We're colleages."

"Right," said James, pushing the middle-aged man's arm away, "Sorry, sir."

"Anyway, I'm walking your way," said Wells. "Come with?"

"I'm waiting for Lily," said James quickly, knowing that Wells' statement was utterly idiotic, considering a) he couldn't have class while the sun was out and b) the Defense Against the Dark Arts Classroom wasn't anywhere near the Astronomy tower.

"I'll wait for you," said Wells with a large smile.

"I wouldn't want you to be late," said James quickly.

"I won't be," grinned Wells.

James gave him a mostly fake smile as he glanced at the clock. Two minutes to class. Where the hell was Lily?

As he thought it, Lily came crashing out the fireplace, mumbling something about how much she hated flooing _anywhere_. Somehow, she had managed to come out dustless, although her hair was looking a little frazzled, and she had a coffee stain on her blouse.

"Lily," he questioned, "why is there a coffee stain on your blouse?"

"Gee, I wonder," she said acidly, rubbing at it furiously and heading for the door.

"Might want to magic it out," he said. "Before class. Those Slytherin third years can be vicious."

She blinked for a few seconds before muttering the incantation and watching the stain fade away. Then, she turned on her heel and briskly exited the teacher's lounge, sending a glare back over her shoulder. James couldn't for the life of him figure out why. He thought it had been particularly sensitive of him to know her schedule. Maybe he had gotten it wrong? He would have to verify it at lunch. Hmm.

"James? Going to class today?" said Wells. "You've got a minute."

"Shit," said James, snapping back to reality. "Nice seeing you, sir. I have to, um, run."

&&

The bell rang just as James dashed into his classroom. Inwardly, James congratulated himself for making yet another close one. Outwardly, he gave the staring sixth years his most charming smile.

"Wands away," he told them. The class moaned reluctantly, the classroom suddenly full of the clatter of bags opening and closing. The clumsy one in the back managed to drop it several times in the process.

"Sorry," he said, heading to the board. "But we really have to study the theory behind all these hexes and all that cra—er, crud, before I let you attempt them on each other. Honestly, Pomfrey will have my throat if I let anyone get hexed more than once. And let me tell you, when that woman is really mad – "

He didn't finish his joke because the class had already erupted in laughter. Satisfied, James turned towards the board and flicked his wand so that the chalk began scrawling 'The Twitching Ear Hex' across the board.

"Sir," said the prissy one in the front with glasses, "you've got the hex name wrong."

"Ally – " hissed Lily but with freckles beside the prissy one.

"It's the _twitchy _ear hex, actually," continued the prissy one. "Trust me. I've cross-referenced all this month's material."

"Um," said James nervously, flipping through the course book. "So it is. You should just be glad I didn't call it that one we used on Snape second year, I'm a little bad with names sometimes."

"Obviously," said the prissy one in the front with glasses, and a few other students murmured their assent. A few more were laughing, because James' jokes never fell flat. Ever.

James turned back to the chalkboard, wondering why it even bloody mattered whether it was twitching or twitchy. Honestly. The chalk, which had been scribbling all the while, was now drawing the wand movements for the Knee-Reversing Hex (a complicated eight-flick pattern that James had been looking forward to demonstrating). He sighed and opened his mouth, knowing that after a double class his throat would be dying by lunch. He liked talking, but he didn't like talking _that _much.

&&

James was late to lunch, as usual. Which was actually good, because Lily hadn't decided how she was going to act towards him yet.

"I s'pose you could give him the cold shoulder," Felicity Summers of Divination was advising. "I mean, _honestly_."

Felicity absolutely thrived on gossip, mostly because she was rather mousy herself and had never had a boyfriend. (And, Lily suspected, the more gossip, the easier it was to make up predictions. Not that Lily had any first-hand experience with Divination. She had managed to avoid that particular escapade.)

"...should listen to you, of course! Not to mention that the coffee was his fault in the first place," Felicity was rambling. "Of course, there's always a chance that he was listening and he suggested the spell to be malicious..."

At this point, the asian's woman's eyes were getting that glazed Divination look in them, and Lily grumpily wondered why there weren't better Hogwarts friends to be had. Or actually, better friends in general.

"'Lo, Lilikins," said James, plopping next to her and promptly beginning to stuff his face. Jerkass. She stood up, pushing his pumpkin juice over in the process.

"Lily!" he called after her around a mouthful of peanut butter and jelly. "I don't get it! You _did _have third year Slytherins this morning. And Hufflepuffs!"

"You are such an insensitive prick!" Lily yelled, her mouth agape. "As if I would get mad at you for something as silly and superficial as _that_."

And she stormed off.

"Well, she has before," James said to no one in particular.

&&

Lily had apparently not forgiven him for whatever the hell he had done by the end of the day, as she had floo'd home without him. James grumbled to the room at large as he grabbed his stuff, and not even Wells tried to comfort him. While usually this was a good thing, as the older man made him rather uncomfortable, but at the moment, James felt like being comforted.

"Lily?" he called as he exited the fireplace. She didn't answer him, but with some very clever Marauder sleuthing, he managed to find that she was in the bedroom because the door was locked.

Still, his tickets to Wimbourne Wasps v. the Appleby Arrows ("the game of the year", said Ferdinand McPheez, Quidditch correspondent, Daily Prophet) were on the table, so apparently Lily had accepted them from the owl, which implied that she didn't completely hate him. He stared at them for a moment, watching the moving players get into a catfight, before turning his attention back to the problem at hand.

Lily hadn't seem particularly irritated with him that morning, and had in fact shown no signs of hostility until she glared at him in the teacher's lounge. She hadn't even seemed mad at him when she came, although she had seemed a little frustrated in general.

So he must have been an innocent bystander.

Except that argument never ever worked with women. No matter how innocent bystanderish the situation might seem, they always had some stupid detail that had you had accidentally incriminated yourself with.

James mentally reran their conversation from the teacher's lounge through his head, wishing desperately that he had a photographic memory. Wells had been there – maybe she was jealous because Wells was making moves on him again? – except that was stupid – Lily _knew _he didn't swing that way...

So obviously the offending moment had been in the actual conversation – which wasn't so good because he couldn't really remember what they had been talking about. Maybe it had been important and she was mad because he didn't remember? No, that couldn't be it.

James slumped back into his chair grumpily, squinting his eyes in deep thought. A lone teacup in front of him began to do a tapdance. James groggily took notice of it, and flicked his wand, muttering the countercurse.

"C'mout, C'mout, wherever you are," he mumbled.

"You're no fun, Prongs," grumbled Sirius Black, pushing past James and plopping into the chair across from him.

"What, you expected me to scream or something?" said James, rolling his eyes.

"Well, when you put it that way..." said Sirius grumpily. "But I guess I'm just used to scaring girls."

"Right," said James boredly, "because you are living up the bachelor life. Whoop-de-doo."

"Well, someone's grumpy," said Sirius.

"Mmph," grunted James. "Where'd the others go?"

"Where's Lily?" asked Sirius, shrugging.

"I asked first," said James, not exactly wanting to get into the whole Lily thing quite yet.

"Oh, they've got dates," said Sirius with a decided last of interest, flicking his wand at the teacup again. This time, it grabbed the other teacup across the table and whirled it around in a vivid waltz.

"And you haven't?" questioned James, raising his eyebrows.

"I got stuck with the high maintenance one," mumbled Sirius, "'do I look fat?' was practically the first thing she said to me. And then she got a salad and I asked if that was all and the bloody girl burst into tears and told the couple at the next table that I thought she was anorexic."

"Sorry," said James.

"Doesn't matter anyway," shrugged Sirius, "but what's up with you, mate? You look about fifteen kinds of miserable."

"Oh, Lily's locked herself in the bedroom," mumbled James, slinking even further back into his chair, if that was possible.

"What'd you do this time?" asked Sirius, looking slightly alarmed.

"Hey, what makes you think it was me?" asked James, offended.

"Um, it's obvious?" said Sirius.

"No, it's not."

"Oh, give it up, mate," groaned Sirius. "Just tell me what you did."

"That's part of the problem," sighed James, scratching the back of his neck dismissively, "I'm not exactly sure. So I can't apologize because I'm not sure what I did! She yelled at me at lunch – half the school could hear her, I swear, and she glared at me in the teacher's lounge this morning – but I can't remember what we were talking about that would have set her off and – "

"You're ranting a bit, Prongs," said Sirius calmly.

"Yeah?" said James grumpily.

"Anyway," said Sirius pompously, "I have the solution."

"You do?" asked James incredulously.

"Uh huh," said Sirius, reaching across the table for an almond and staring at it to lengthen the dramatic pause. "Just knock on the door, and tell her you're sorry you're such an insensitive prick and that you'll never do it again."

"That won't work," said James, rolling his eyes.

"Yes, it will," said Sirius indignantly, "I'm a master of the ladies."

"Which is why Remus and Peter are out and you're here?" said James smugly.

"Hey," said Sirius, "That was a low blow. 'Snot like you're much better, anyway."

"_I _have a girlfriend," said James.

"Who locked herself in the bedroom and isn't speaking to you?"

"Right," said James miserably, distractedly putting an almond into his mouth. "How did this happen, Padfoot? We were always the hot ones at school. Remus and Peter have better love lives right now. And that's just bloody pathetic. Although, it's your fault you've dated all the good ones..."

"Just like it's your fault you chose a girl whose mood swings to Pluto and back," said Sirius, standing up and clapping him on the shoulder. "Anyway, Prongsie, I have to run. Oh, and just so you know, the electric bill's late."

"Just be glad I pay it at all," James called after him.

"Bye, Jamesey," called Sirius as the door slammed.

&&

"Lily?" James called timidly as he rapped on the bedroom door. In the background, the old clock was chiming nine thirty. James tried to suppress a yawn. He was getting downright senile – it was way too bloody early to be tired.

She didn't answer.

"Look," said James. "I'm sorry I was such an insensitive prick."

Still no answer. Perhaps she was asleep.

"...and I'll never do it again."

James supposed that it was stupid to try Sirius' plan anyway, but it really was better than anything he had thought of. Sighing, he turned away to go lay down on the couch, but the doorknob clicked and turned before the door pushed open, revealing Lily, looking drained and miserable.

"You're really sorry?" she whispered.

"Uh huh," said James sincerely.

"I am too," she said with her silly half-smile he adored so much.

"Does this mean I can hug you?" he said awkwardly after a pause.

"You just want to _hug _me?" said Lily indignantly.

"Er – " James began.

But the door had already slammed in his face. And as he reached for the knob, the lock clicked into place.

"Bugger."


	2. Chapter Two

Some Kinda Love

Chapter 2

By Mrs Prongs

A/N: I'm fast. Like lightning.

And don't be too disappointed that you don't get to rip out both of our throats.

OH. If the title of this story sounds familiar, it definitely is a Velvet Underground song. What can I say? Lou Reed Love.

---------------

James stalled for a moment before knocking on the door and squeezing his face between the doorjam. "Lily?," he asked, voice muffled and clearly having trouble breathing with his nose shoved into the door.

No answer.

"Honestly, Lily. You can't stay in there forever," he called through the small crack.

"WATCH ME!," she yelled back angrily.

"Techinically, I can't really see you so-," James began.

Before he could finish, the door swung open and he stumbled forward.

"You're simply _infuriating, _James Potter!," Lily said loudly, walking past him before he even got the chance to look up at him.

Before he could explain, a jacket was being thrown in his face.

"Out," Lily said in a low voice, pointing at the door.

James looked at her incredulously. "Are you _kidding_, Lily? It's really not that big of a-"

"Deal, right? Really not that big of a deal? Just get OUT, Potter!," she said opening the door for him and pushing him out.

Needless to say, James was in pure shock. Sure, he had been 'kicked out' before. On several occassions, in fact. But never over something that he didn't even know that he did in the first place. He did know one thing, though. This was all Sirius' fault. I mean, _honestly. _it was his bright idea to talk to her in the first place. If he would have just waited it out a bit, she would already be apologizing for overreacting. Which is what she was definitely doing right now.

--------

"BLACK!," a voice pierced through the calm room. Sirius squeezed his eyes together, knowing exactly who it was. Not that he was afraid of James, but he had a hell of a temper.

Turning his head around he was greeted with James looking down at him.

"Fix it," he said simply, in an even voice.

"Fix _what_, exactly?," Sirius asked nonchalantly.

"What do you think! You're bloody 'advice' got me kicked out!," James screeched, flailing his arms.

Sirius held up his hands. "Whoa, Prongsy. It's not as if you haven't got kicked out before," he told him.

James took a few deep breaths, keeping the urge to whack Sirius in the back of the head under control.

Sirius furrowed his brow. "So my advice didn't really work?," he asked worriedly, looking at the floor in deep thought before glancing up at James." Before James could answer, he continued. "I mean, it could have been your fault. See, Jameseykins. You have a problem. You like to jump to conclusions and blame other people. All through school you were like this and now it's even worse. It's not healthy, mate."

Sirius could have sworn he had seen steam coming out of James' ears and blinked a few times to be sure.

"Just wait it out," Sirius suggested quickly. "She'll miss you tonight and you'll see her at school tomorrow and everything will be better and all of that good, fluffy stuff."

--------

As per usual, Sirius was completely wrong. James didn't know why he was still listening to Sirius after all of these years. Maybe it gave him a sort of comfort, knowing that if it did go wrong he could pin the blame on his best mate instead of himself. Maybe Sirius right about his blaming problem.

Shaking his head, James forgot about it quickly as he ran down the halls to his first class. Lily had given him the cold shoulder in the teacher's lounge and even stomped on his foot as she was getting coffee.

James strolled into class casually just as the late bell rang. "Wands away!," he called. "Turn to page 934. The Twitching Ear Hex."

"The _Twitchy _Ear Hex, sir," he heard a voice. He looked up, seeing the prissy one with glasses staring intently at him.

"Right, right, Miss?," he asked, clearly agitated.

"Oatman," she answered quickly. "Honestly, Professor. I corrected you yesterday."

"Ally," he saw Lily but with freckles hiss, nudging her friend in the side.

"Well, just because you have a massive crush on him doesn't mean that he's never wrong," the prissy one said back with a sour look on her face.

Lily but with freckles turned beet red.

"Shut _up_," she said viciously to the Ravenclaw.

"I'm just telling you the truth," the Ravenclaw said simply, turning to her friend.

It was clear the whole class was very interested in this conversation as they had abandoned their books and stared intently at the two girls.

James cleared his throat. "Page 934," he repeated loudly.

The class grudgingly obliged, mumbling amongst themselves.

"So the Twitchin-," James caught himself. "_Twitchy_ Ears Hex," he corrected himself sarcastically.

-------

Ninety minutes later the bell rang once more and the class rushed towards the door. Particularly the Lilyish one of the two girls who had fought earlier.

Sighing, he had decided to go and try to patch things up with Lily once more. Hopefully he could do so in the fifteen minutes he was allowed.

Pushing the large wooden door to her classroom open, he poked his head in. "Lily?," he called, finding the situation disturbingly familiar.

He knew she didn't normally wander the halls inbetween classes. Pushing the door open more, he slipped in. He called her name again, looking around. He had no idea why he was as nervous as he was as he shuffled towards her office door.

Rapping on it, he waited. After a couple of minutes, he gave up and started towards the door. Before he could open it, it opened itself. Jumping back a bit, he saw that it was just Lily.

"Where were you?," he asked, scowling.

She scowled right back. "No, the question is why are you here?," she asked sourly, placing her hands on her hips.

"To see you!," James exclaimed, throwing a hand in the air.

Lily blinked at him a few times before finally softening her face.

"I have something to tell you," she said flatly, grabbing his hand and leading him towards her office.


	3. Chapter Three

Some Kinda Love

Chapter Three

By Mrs. Padfoot

Author's Note: Mrs. Prongs is a slavedriver. The end.

...um, is it weird that I'm the late one? And she's the slavedriver?

&&

Lily's office was cluttered and messy and always smelled of chocolate and ink. The desk was stacked with papers to be graded, and a few confusing Muggleish diagrams were posted in various places on the walls. On the wall space behind her desk, a calendar read November 1979 – a month behind. A few pictures were visible – a few of James and Lily, and a few of her parents (which never moved no matter how much you poked or prodded them). James found the room strangely endearing. And distracting.

"James," grumbled Lily. "I'm tired, grumpy, I have a lot of work to do, so don't make this take any longer than it has to."

"This?" questioned James.

"Conversation," said Lily, biting her lip. "I have something to tell you, remember?"

"Right," said James slowly.

"Um – well – see – "

"Lily..."

"No, listen to me. James, I haven't been feeling well lately – "

"Lily! Why didn't you tell me?" said James, propelling himself across the room to her. His hands moved furiously from her waist to her forehead to her shoulders as he whirled her around to look him in the eye. "I can arrange to get you checked at Saint Mungo's right away – right now in fact. I'm sure someone can cover for you – "

"James, I went to Madam Pomfrey this morning – Wells was covering for me – "

"You let that starry-eyed idiot cover your Muggle Studies class? But what about all your future muggle relations officials? He doesn't know a thing about Muggles, Lily! I bet he didn't tell you _that_, Lily," said James seriously.

"Actually, he did," said Lily. "He's not very fond of me – "

"Really? Why? Wells is always nice to me, creepy bastard that he is. And how could anyone not like you, Lily? I mean, you're perfect, Lily. Really, Lily," James' mouth seemed to be moving faster than the Hogwarts Express, and Lily was having a hard time keeping up with him. She kept hearing her name, though. She sighed.

" – don't know why they let him teach students, anyway. Especially not _your _bright little ones – _my _buggers are crazy – "

"James – "

"—twitchy ear hex! I mean, how different is twitching ear hex? Does it really bloody matter? I mean, whatever you call it, it still _works_ – "

"James, please – "

"—bloody class would rather listen to those two argue it out than me! I give interesting lectures, don't I, Lily? Honestly, I – "

"JAMES," yelled Lily. He stopped and stared at her. "That is totally not the point of this conversation. I still have something to tell you. It's hard enough as it is, do you really have to ramble about nothing at all?"

"It's not nothing," James said indignantly, his eyes narrowing.

"Oh – don't get mad at me, James, really, I didn't mean that," said Lily. "It's just that this is really important."

"And I'm not?"

"Of course you are, James, I just – "

"Oh, so you're more important than me?"

"That's not what I said, James – "

"Lately you've just been so angry, Lily! You're lashing out at me for nothing at all every few seconds, and it's really starting to get on my nerves – "

"MOOD SWINGS," yelled Lily. "IT'S PART OF BEING PREGNANT, YOU KNOW!"

James' mouth paused mid sentence, and wobbled silently for a few seconds before closing completely. His eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head. Lily stared at him for a second before her eyes trailed onto the ground.

"Um," she said finally, "yes. Anyway. I guess I don't have anything else important to say, so I'm just going to go to lunch – "

He was still staring at her. He would've said something if he had wanted to. He was miserable. He wasn't ready. Lily could feel the tears about to slip out her eyes, but she couldn't let _him _see that –

"I'm going to go to – the teacher's lounge," she said, her voice choked. And she dashed for the teacher's lavatory.

&&

Once again, Lily had floo'd home without James. But yesterday had been better. Yesterday it hadn't been his fault.

At least, he didn't think it had been his fault yesterday. But today – definitely his fault. He was a bloody idiot.

If he had managed to come to his senses just a bit earlier – maybe she wouldn't have run off in tears. Oh, god. She was so distressed – what if she had had a miscarriage? He thought he remembered something about distressed pregnant women and miscarriages. Why, oh why didn't he pay more attention when he read stuff like that? It could have been quite important! Lily could be flushing their baby away right now and it was all his fault.

"LILY?" he yelled as soon as he was in their fireplace. He hit his head rushing out of it, but he didn't care. "Lily? Lily, where are you?"

No answer. He tried the bedroom door, but it opened fine – and still no sign of Lily. James wondered if she had up and left him. But no – her clothes were still there, she wouldn't leave without her clothes.

Would she?

Well, it didn't matter, anyway, because she was off somewhere that wasn't here. He briefly considered going to a bar and getting stinking drunk, but decided against it – there was always the possibility that she hadn't had a miscarriage or run off, in which case he was still a father to be and had to set a good example for the fetus. So he settled for the next best thing – he apparated over to the 'Bloody Tiny Marauder Flat,' as Sirius so fondly called it.

It was relatively easy for him to find his friends (excluding Sirius, who was off on a date) – Remus was hanging up Christmas decorations in the kitchen. Which was a bit odd – most people didn't have decorations in their kitchen – but it was tradition for reasons James still didn't understand. Peter was engrossed in a magazine James didn't recognize.

"Hi," said James half-heartedly, slumping into a chair.

"Prongs, hey," said Remus, turning to face him. "What's up with you? You look like you lost your broom."

"Huh," muttered James grumpily.

"Whoa, mate," said Remus. "Lighten up. Have a fight with Lily?"

"How'd you guess?"

"Practically every day of recent history, you have a fight with Lily, come to one of us for advice, and then yell because the advice didn't work," explained Remus. "It's getting a little old. I mean, I understand that you two are going through a rough patch, but – "

"Yeah, well, this is the worst yet," mumbled James miserably. "All the others? Lily was having mood swings. She's pregnant."

"Excuse me?" asked Remus and Peter at the same time.

"She's pregnant. She told me she had something important to tell me, and I start rambling, and she tells me to shut up, and I yell at her, and she blurts out that she's pregnant, and I just stood there – and then she ran away. And I – just stood there," he finished lamely.

"So?" said Remus.

"I think she hates me now," said James, surprised that it was taking him so long to catch on. Remus was the bookish one, after all.

"Why?" asked Remus.

"Because I stood there and didn't say anything," said James. It was bloody obvious. He couldn't see why they didn't understand.

"That sounds rather normal, Prongs," said Peter. "I mean – she blurted out that she was pregnant. It's okay to be in shock."

"No – "

"James, don't argue," said Remus, laughing, "he's right. And – congratulations, mate."

"Thanks," said James, his spirits lifting a little. "So – you really think it's gonna be okay?"

"Definitely," said Peter, turning back to his magazine.

"Whatcha reading, anyway, Wormtail?" asked Remus curiously.

"Oh, some story about this girl who strung a guy along and then he proposes and she dumps him – nonfiction, too," Peter mumbled.

"Does that happen a lot?" asked James quietly.

"Doubt it," said Remus noncommittally, "Sounds like rubbish to me."

"But it says it's real, Moony," said James, who was now staring intently over Peter's shoulder. "Oh my god – do you think Lily – ?"

"No," said Remus.

"No, that would explain _everything_," said James, "like, why she was crying, because it wasn't me, I just had a normal male reaction – but she was terrified because she didn't mean to get pregnant – pregnancy means commitment, you know, and she's just a drifter – "

"Prongs, you're freaking out," said Peter quietly.

"I thought it was Lily who was supposed to be having the mood swings?" asked Remus with a grin.

"Give him a break, Moony, he's distressed to the point of extreme stupidity," said Peter.

"Why are you two enjoying my misery?" James asked loudly.

"We're not, Prongs," said Remus lightly. "We just think you're funny. Look – Lily is not a drifter, she's – Lily. Don't worry about it, mate. I'm sure she'll jump at the chance to marry you."

"Yeah?" asked James quietly.

"Absolutely," said Remus.

&&

When Lily apparated home at five forty-five, James was asleep on the ratty old couch he loved to hate, his cheek pressing against the loose threads on the left arm. Smiling a little at the endearing scene, she pushed past into the kitchen. Honestly, she was _starving_, even after all those Christmas cookies she had helped her mother make...

Her smile faded a little, and she wondered if maybe she should have told her parents that she was pregnant.

But James had a right to be there when she did, didn't he?

Of course, there was always the chance that James didn't particularly _want _to have a baby. I mean, she never really gave him a chance to express anything one way or another. They hadn't exactly planned this. Hell, they had never even discussed the possibility. They hadn't even discussed _marriage _yet.

Which brought Lily to the final reason that she hadn't voiced her sudden pregnancy to her mother – which was the fact that she and James were not married, or even engaged yet. Her mother – and particularly her father – were scandalized enough by the fact that they were _living _together, how the hell should she expect them to accept a premarital pregnancy?

This whole thing was one big, bloody headache.

And even if they wanted the baby, was it _right _for them to have it? They were both in the thick of a _war_, for heaven's sake. They could be killed. The poor helpless little baby could be murdered.

What were they getting themselves into?

"Hey," said Lily, as something pecked at her hand. She whisked her hand away from the small tawny owl that had just dug its beak into her open palm. It looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn't quite place whose it was. She took the letter it was holding, and after confirming from the tidy print on the front that it was indeed for her, she pulled it open.

_Lily –_

_James told Peter and I the news. Congratulations. James is a little nervy though, eh? Peter and I might've – accidentally – made him a little nervier. Sorry. Actually, I'm wanted to ask ask if you want us to tell Sirius. He'll be back from his date (Helen McAaron? Know her?) soon and I didn't know if you two (or just Prongs) wanted to tell him on your own. Peter kindof wants to tell him himself, but, I mean, it's your place, really. Oh, and Pete's trying to convince me to bet on Padfoot's reaction. Ask James what he reckons. I think he'll know._

_Remus_

"Probably open-mouthed shock followed by hugs. Oh, and he'll want us to name it Sirius Junior," said James wryly from behind her.

"Don't _do _that," grumbled Lily.

"Do what?" asked James, taking a step back and holding up his hands.

"Come up behind me and just _talk_," grumbled Lily.

"I'm not allowed to talk?" asked James, confused.

"No, you're not allowed to scare me like that," she informed him, frowning in a sort of a prim, schoolmarmish way.

"_That _scared you?" asked James softly.

"Uh huh," she said standing up to face him.

"Really," he said, "because I can do a lot better than that. I mean, I can do a hell of a lot better than that. I mean, I wasn't even trying!"

"You're such a loser," she said, rolling her eyes and pushing past him, heading for the couch.

"The correct term is Marauder, m'dear," he called after her as she plopped on the plush, ratty burgundy couch across from the fireplace.

"James, darling, don't try to use your Marauder status as a pick up line," she groaned sarcastically.

"Lily, dearest, do you even know what a pick up line is?" he laughed, sitting next to her.

"Of course I do," she said indignantly.

"That wasn't one," he told her, sliding his arm around her.

"It was too!" she insisted. She had a feeling he was laughing at her inside, but at the moment, she didn't particularly care.

Everything was okay again.

--

Questions:

**Kat44**: Lily and James have graduated and are teachers at Hogwarts now.

**Amberle Elessedil**: Er... which other story?

**Angryteabag**: I think that there are enough stories about Lily and James getting together in school. I mean, hell, we've written three ourselves. This is purely post-Hogwarts and we're just assuming everything.

...I'm a lame question-answerer.


	4. Chapter Four

Some Kinda Love Chapter 4 Mrs. Prongs 

A/N: Eh. It's been a while. IT'S NOT MY FAULT, HONESTLY.

------

Morning sickness.

At that moment in time, those were the two most vial words anyone could utter to Lily, who was currently leaning over the toilet bowl emptying yesterday's breakfast, lunch, dinner, possibly organs and god only knew what else. It was 5:45 on a Tuesday morning and Lily had been leaning on the cold bathroom floor for exactly 45 minutes. She could hear James' obnoxious snores floating from the bedroom, which in turn only made her feel more sick to her stomach and instantly felt another wave of vomit coming up her throat.

"_James_," Lily moaned pathetically, flushing the commode as she tried to pick herself up off of the floor. Not hearing an answer, she shuffled into the dark bedroom and made her way to the bed. "_James_," she tried again, poking him in the gut. All Lily could make out of him was a black mop of hair and a long nose peeking out from under the covers. The mop moved, letting out a low guttural groan of annoyance as he shifted to his other side.

"Uh," James said. Well, more of moaned, his voice muffled by the duvet cover that was currently over half of his face. It had been a week since 'The Fight' (as Sirius had liked to call it), and two days since Lily had began experiencing the joy of upchucking her innards.

"I'm _starving_," she half-whined, sounding completely exhausted. "Uh," James in turn answered, only partially processing what she had said. Several moments passed before Lily poked him again. "_James_," she said a little bit more sternly this time. "Get up and make me toast. And eggs. And sausage." Lily thought for a moment. "And buns."

"Guh," James moaned, throwing the covers off of him in a fit and rolling out of the large soft, warm and inviting bed. He blindly made his way to the bathroom and slammed the door shut.

Lily couldn't help but feel annoyed that James was annoyed. He didn't even have the right to be annoyed. She was the pregnant one. She was the one getting up at 5 in the morning just to lean over a toilet bowl for forty five minutes straight. Thinking about this annoyed her that much more and she quickly exited the room in an annoyed kind of way.

Five minutes later James shoved his glasses onto his face and padded into the kitchen, still half asleep. "Lily," he began, instantly feeling guilty as he watched her throw five sausage links into a frying pan. "You could just magick yourself breakfast." Lily whipped around and gave him a nice, long glare before turning back to the buns she was currently throwing into the oven. "You know that that isn't healthy for the baby," Lily told him coldly. This just wasn't what boyfriends who had impregnated their girlfriends did. They were _supposed _to wake up at 5:45 in the A.M. and make them breakfast, regardless of whether they could just 'magick' it up or not. They did NOT moan and grunt about it and then go and lock themselves in the bathroom.

"Lily," James said again, sighing and leaning against the doorframe to the small kitchen. Before he could apologize, there was a loud crash in the living area and an even louder 'Gah!'. "Lily! James," the same voice called. James could hear it's footsteps coming closer to the kitchen. Neither of them had to guess who it was and weren't surprised in the least as he appeared from the hallway.

"Morning, you two. Wow, Lils. It smells delicious in here," Sirius greeted them, wide awake and in way too good of a mood to be healthy at the current hour.

"This isn't a good time," James muttered to his best friend, glancing over at Lily.

It was a couple of moments before Sirius got the hint and nodded, winking at James. James let out a small groan. "Oooh, well. Just thought I'd pop in and say hello, but I see that you two are a little busy in here," he said smoothly, winking at James again. "Sirius-," James began, but was quickly cut off. "And I'll just let you two get on with it. Crazy how you two have that much energy. Ah, Prongsie." Sirius gave him a light punch on the shoulder and winked again.

James winced. Not from Sirius' fist, but from what was soon to come out of Lily. He recalled one moment when Lily had just started being civil to him by tutoring him in Charms and Sirius had walked in on one of their study sessions. James had told him it was a bad time then, too. Well, he didn't really want to remember anything after that. He was sure he had still had a bruise on his side from that one.

The minutes that followed were a blur. A large, black, ugly blur filled in with a few screams of terror and running around the house. James was almost certain his saw a boot fly past his head and hit it's target only a few feet away. In the end, Sirius had ended up with a large bruise on his forehead (compliments of the flying boot) , a nasty gash on his forearm and a limp.

"I can't believe you were even considering him as the godfather of our baby," Lily screeched, throwing her hands in the air. Sirius had ran out of the door only a few seconds before, briefly forgetting how to apparate in his desperate attempt to get away.

"You know how Sirius is," James mumbled, not wanting to set her off again. He rubbed his scratch that he obtained bitterly before flipping the eggs in the frying pan.

"Yes, I do know, James. He is a huge lump of idiocy," she answered him as-matter-of-factly, sitting on the barstool that was scooted next to the counters. They had a half an hour before they had to start getting ready for class.

James couldn't help but think of the large diamond ring that he had bought three days before that was currently stuffed in his sock drawer, hiddin inside a particularly large and particularly ugly sock he had recieved from Peter the Christmas before. He couldn't tell if he was regretting buying it or not. James loved Lily. He really did. But was he really ready to make a commitment? His parents would kill him if he didn't and so would Remus.

"I'm really sorry," Lily mumbled, interrupting James' thoughts. "Hormones, you know." She picked at her long, red fingernail.

James snorted, but instantly regretted it and tried to cover it up as a cough. If what he had experienced just now as Lily's hormones, she sure had a lot of them. Actually, Lily's life must have been one long overabundance of hormone. As long as James could remember, she had had a temper and today was no exception.

"It's fine," he told her finally, giving her a small kiss on the cheek before emptying the eggs and sausage into a plate for her. He grabbed a mitt and reached into the oven for the buns.

"Are you not hungry," she asked him innocently, pouting a bit. James shook his head and left the kitchen for the bedroom. He needed time to think. Or maybe sleep a little bit longer. Whichever came first.

---------

James rushed down the corridor. Seven seconds. He saw the door to his classroom only a matter of meters away and in a bought of energy, made his way to it just in time.

All eyes were on him as he strolled into the large classroom. He regretted sleeping those few extra minutes.

"Sir," he heard a voice call to him. He glanced over and saw that it was the prissy one with the glasses raising her hand. This happened every day. He would walk in and she would have a question or a comment or maybe just the need to talk to him. It never failed, really. James had decided at the beginning of the year that a divine spirit hated him and sent the girl to punish him for the wrong-doings of his life.

"Yes," he asked, sounding slightly irritated. He didn't even attempt at remembering her name as he set his coffee down on his desk with a particularly loud 'thud'.

"The chapter about the unforgivable curses," she began. Had James even assigned that chapter? He couldn't remember. He was lucky that he had remember his shoes this morning.

Before he could find out the girl's thoughts on the subject, there was a knock on the door. Just as James was about to call 'come in', the door swung open.

"James," Harold called, walking into the classroom. He looked around the room with a wide smile. "Ravenclaws and Slytherins today then," he asked, joining James at the front of the room. "Ah, I remember my days as a Ravenclaw," he said in a sort of dreamy, nostalgic voice.

James cleared his throat. "Yes, that's all well and good then. Is there something that you needed, if I may ask?"

"Oh, right," Wells said, sounding a bit more serious and lowering his voice. "Lily wanted me to tell you that she was going home because she was feeling a bit under the weather. I was going to cover for her. She says not to worry, that she'll be fine." James frowned.

"Well if that's it then," he started, walking towards the door with the intentions of showing Wells out. The older man looked a little hesitant to leave, but finally did. Not before clapping James on the back in a little too much of a friendly way, though. James shuddered a bit as he felt the class staring at him.

"Anyway, on with today's lesson, then." Today was going to be a long, miserable day. He could feel it in his gut.

--------

balmost famous/b: We can assure you that our plotline is intended to be 100 original and if it does sound similar to another story, that it was completely unintentional. Also, don't review as anonymous. It's really obnoxious sometimes. Especially when you have something like that to say.


	5. Chapter Five

Some Kinda Love

Chapter 5

By Mrs. Padfoot

Notes: Hey, you guys, this story's still canon! (SWY and LWY are not, because their potions teacher is Professor Teasdale... but _anyway_.) Which is pretty much the only good thing about the decided lack of MWPP-era stuff we learned in HBP... but whatever. This chapter was finished awhile ago... but, ehhhh, I'm lazy. And isn't it nice to have a post-HBP reading present? Or something? I don't know. Whatever. I'm going to stop rambling now.

--

As her hands gripped the cool porcelain of the toilet bowl for what was maybe the fifteenth time that afternoon, Lily Evans wondered what idiot had named morning sickness. It certainly didn't seem to care what time of day it hit her at. And if this torture was just plain sickness, she'd hate to experience disease.

Sighing, she made the mistake of glancing down into the toilet and ended up heaving the rest of her innards. It was really a wonder she was still pregnant, the way she'd been going. Right now it seemed that the baby must be the only goddamned thing left inside of her.

In defeat, Lily sagged against the sink, flushing her lunch away. She was still starving, goddammit. But the futility of eating was starting to frustrate her, because whatever she came right back up anyway. It was a vicious, neverending cycle.

And god, she was crying again.

She wiped viciously at the tears with one hand, her other grasping at the sink for support as she pulled herself shakily to her feet. As she slunk back towards her favorite ratty chair in the living room, pulling a blanket around her.

God, she was a baby.

It wasn't like she had felt any worse today than she had the past few, really. It wasn't even like she was avoiding some particular group of students – they were all as bad, really. The Slytherins snickered behind their hands when she had to leave the room, the Hufflepuffs gave her pitying glances, and, well, the Ravenclaws _knew_. She could see it every time they looked at her. And she knew that the Gryffindors' opinion of her was slipping. After all, how many times could she run to the bathroom to throw up or pee or whatever before they started calling her a wimp behind their hands?

No. Today she had left her poor students at Harold Wells' mercy simply because she was tired of having to walk all the way down the hall to the bathroom.

Really. How fair was it that Minerva McGonagall had a bathroom _next _to her classroom? Like Minerva McGonagall _ever _left a class to pee. Or throw up. Whatever.

Just the idea of Minerva McGonagall doing anything so vulgar as peeing was a little weird, actually.

When the hell had she gotten this immature?

Frustrated, she felt more tears coming to her eyes, and the closest thing she had to sensible voice told her to go get a glass of a water before she cried herself dry.

She remembered her mother saying that to her a few times when she was growing up, and usually the twisted way it made sense but didn't made her cry harder. Like she would ever run out of tears to cry.

Oh, god. Her mother. She was going to have to explain this to her mother.

She was practically a faucet as she made her way to the kitchen to get herself a glass of water.

--

The classroom clock was taunting him, James decided. It was going as slow as it possibly could, dragging out each class period to four or five times its usual length.

He had wanted to floo home to see how Lily was at lunchtime, but the prissy girl with glasses had ambushed him with questions he barely remembered the answers to for so long that he had starting mentally calling her things that he had promised he would never, ever call his students. So much for being a nice teacher.

When the bell had tolled the end of lunch, Prissy stalked off with her books and her friend, who had given him an apologetic shrug on her way out.

It hadn't made up for anything.

The clock informed him that had been about an hour ago, although it felt like days. He wondered if Wells could simultaneously cover for both of them.

That put a weirdly amusing image in his head and he let out a rather large snort.

A bewildered first year turned back to him in the middle of her presentation, looking terrified.

Bad teacher, he berated himself. Bad.

Which was funny too, because Sirius was the dog.

And seriously, how much less eloquent could he get?

He was guffawing now, for basically no reason at all.

He wondered if he could claim pregnancy hormones.

He doubted it.

Wiping nonexistent tears from his eyes, he stood up straighter as the class of Hufflepuffs and Slytherins (which was a really _stupid _combination, he thought) stared at him, wide-eyed.

"Sorry," he said. "You have no idea what stress can do to adults."

The eleven-year-olds continued to stare at him. He almost amended 'grown-ups' before reminding himself that they weren't _that _stupid.

"Go on with your presentation, Elizabeth," he finally said, and she gave him a funny look which he took to mean she was really a Nancy before continuing in a high, wavering voice.

James glanced up at the clock, half-listening.

A minute had passed.

Dammit.

--

James burst in exactly on time, which was rare, calling her name with all his considerable vocal capacity. Lily would have said "I'm in here!" if she her mouth hadn't been so busy expelling her third afternoon snack into the toilet.

She was beginning to feel sorry for the poor toilet. God knew it hadn't had a second of rest since this whole pregnancy thing had happened.

"Lily?" James called, quieter now, pushing the door open.

"Yeah?" she asked weakly, in a gravelly sort of voice. She swallowed, and the awful taste of vomit teased her tongue as the acid burned her throat.

"Are you okay?" he asked, kneeling to her level.

"Yeah," she mumbled as he pulled her to him tightly, his hands desperately smoothing her shirt down.

"Really?" he said, the word almost lost in her hair.

"Yeah," she insisted, wondering where her usually extensive vocabulary had gone.

"Okay," he said quietly, his hands slowing their incessant rubbing, but he didn't release her. "I was worried."

He had only said four words, but the paragraph he managed to convey in them made her feel a little guilty. She should have said something, told Wells to say something, anything, that would have helped him to know that she was being stupid and childish and that she had really just wanted to be at home.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "It was nothing. I'm fine."

His grip loosened a little.

"Okay," he said finally, before, standing up and offering a hand to pull her up.

And it was.


	6. Chapter Six

Some Kinda Love

Chapter 6

By Mrs Prongs

Disclaimer: My writing partner and I do not own Harry Potter or its franchise nor have we in the past and we will most likely continue to be Non-Owners in the future.

----

It seemed that in the following week things had started to get back to normal. Or as normal as Lily waking up at three am to discard of her dinner and waking up James in the process (the doctor had said that it was a healthy practice, a relationship builder of sorts, for the father to experience what the mother experiences on a daily basis - James disagreed, obviously) so she could actually could be. Thankfully, Lily told him, the doctor said morning sickness would only last for another week or so.

"Jamesey?," Lily called one morning - 3:04 AM, precisely - as she leaned over the porcelain bowl.

James was sitting on the edge of the tub, his head in his hands. Not the most comfortable place to sleep, he knew, but he couldn't do much about that at this particularly moment.

"James?"

Silence.

Lily kicked him. "James, you're supposed to be experiencing this with me. I do not think you understand the meaning of sympathy-"

Before she could finish, an all too familiar feeling hit Lily for the second time that morning.

"Mhramwurm," James murmered, hands still firmly in place over his face.

Lily coughed and wiped her mouth with a washcloth.

"Have you thought of a godfather?," she asked finally, leaning away from the bowl. She looked at him seriously.

He didn't answer.

"Are you _asleep_, James? Do not tell me you are asleep. This is exactly what the doctor was talking about. Communication and a lack thereof. I cannot believe I am having a child with you of all-"

"Lily," James sighed, removing his hands and leaning his head on the wall instead. "I think you do enough communicating for the both of us."

Lily frowned, but didn't argue.

"A godfather, James. Have you considered one?," she asked again.

"Well," he said, finally opening his eyes but quickly shutting them again. Since when were the lights in the bathroom so bright? And why did they have to be? Honestly, you do not need to see that well to bathe and, well, anyway. "No, Lily. Because the baby is not due for another 6 months-"

"5 and a half, James."

"-five and a half months, Lily, and honestly, I don't see the need for one. My godfather was a man named Boris. I'm not really sure what his surname was and I suppose it doesn't really matter. He was a cauldron inspector or something really redundant and inane like that. I never even met the man."

"Just because you had a depraved childhood doesn't mean that ours should," Lily said, but patted James on the knee.

"I don't think that a godfather has anything to do with a depraved childhood, Lily," James murmered, frowning a bit. "And anyway, obviously if anyone were to be a godfather to my son - or daughter - my obvious choice is Sirius."

"You have got to be kidding," Lily scoffed, flushing the toilet and standing up. "I know you are best friends with him and he's a really great guy but godfathers are supposed to be responsible and dependable and Sirius is well...not. Don't give me stupid answers like that."

James yawned. "Don't ask me stupid questions and I won't give you stupid answers. You knew I'd choose Sirius."

"Yes, well, I'd thought you had grown up within this past month but I was obviously wrong," Lily sniffed as she began to brush her teeth.

"Can we talk about this in the morning, Lily?" James asked, standing up and resting his chin on her shoulder as she continued to brush her teeth.

Lily made a sort of hmmph sound. James took that as a yes and dragged himself back to the bed.

If James were honest with himself, he would probably agree with Lily. Sirius was a lot of things, and while a great mate was one of them, 'godfather' wouldn't be headlining the list. It wouldn't even be making its way into the footnotes, for that matter. And while James wasn't even sure what a godfather was actually supposed to do, he _was_ certain that it did not include taking his godchild out for a night of pub-crawling and having a go at drunken karaoke at two in the morning.

James _really_ didn't like to be honest with himself. This was mostly due to the fact that he had already promised the supreme title of godfather to Sirius a few weeks ago after one of these aforementioned nights of getting blitzed and singing several rounds of 'Bubble Bubble Toil and Trouble My Heart' – encores included. The deliriously happy look on Sirius's face after James declared his best friend the future godfather of his precious offspring came rushing to the forefront of James's mind as he slowly dressed that morning.

Thankful that it was a Saturday, James took even less care to make sure that his socks were matching and all of his buttons were fastened. After years of being forced into too-stiff collared shirts and pressed trousers throughout his childhood, James took full advantage of not being under his mother's thumb when he had moved out of his family home. So what if he wore a bright red Quidditch sweater (complete with snitches lazily floating across the knitting) and wrinkled pants from the day before? Lily was not too thrilled with this habit and was working tirelessly to reverse it, going so far as to color coordinate his wardrobe and ensure that all of his socks were balled up with the right mates.

The rebel in James made sure to carefully pick out a bright green sock from one end of the drawer and a flaming orange one from the other this morning. He probably wouldn't go into public like this, but he did secretly enjoy tormenting Lily. He knew it was a job well-done when he marched into the tiny kitchen where Lily was brewing coffee and the first thing Lily zeroed in on were his crayon-colored clad feet, complete with a grass stained t-shirt that Lily had tried to hide in the bottom of the hamper the night previous. James was proud of himself and victoriously poured himself a large mug of steaming coffee.

"So, have you given any more thought about a godfather?," Lily asked abruptly, choosing to ignore James's ridiculous outfit. Choose your battles, she always told herself.

James frowned, leaning against the countertop. He furrowed his brow, trying to look thoughtful about the matter. The last thing he wanted to confess to Lily was that he had already stupidly and drunkenly made a decision that they both were supposed to be a part of. This confession would be sure to ruin his day and on a morning complete with coffee and green and orange socks, he was really determined for his day to continue in this manner.

"Lily, I unequivocally stand beside my opinion that a godfather is the last thing our child needs," he declared emphatically. Lily began to protest, but James stopped her. "Imagine this! What if, say, James Jr. is denied something that he really wants to have or do by us? Being the Potter that he is, he'll try to exhaust all of his resources to try to get that new broomstick or go to this country or that without supervision. So what if whatever godfather he has helps him out? Goes over our heads and even finances his way across the globe! What then, Lily? What _then?_" James looked at her solemnly. "I don't know about you, Lils, but I don't think I'd want another parental figure in our child's life that could undermine our authority and potentially corrupt him," James sniffed. Lily blinked.

"You're mad," she huffed, shaking her head.

"Or perhaps I care more for our child's safety than you do," James suggested, sipping his coffee thoughtfully. Perhaps trying to get a one up built upon falsities on Lily wasn't the best idea, but it was certainly better than admitting the truth.

Maybe he was being absurd, but all he really needed was to buy himself time to break the news to Sirius that he had to take back his promise. James winced at the thought of this. It was never any good having Sirius angry with him. James could endure a lot of things. He didn't mind being yelled at, given disapproving looks or even hexed, but he absolutely could not stand the silent treatment. The cold shoulder was worse than death to him and Sirius knew this. Once in fifth year, Sirius went a total of three weeks without talking to him over James flirting with some girl that he didn't even know Sirius was after. James almost went mad in those three weeks and the only person that could talk any sense into Sirius after ignoring his best mate for that long was Moony.

"Listen, James," Lily began, shaking him from his thoughts. "I would really like a godfather named by the end of this week," she said, sticking several items into a small pocketbook. "I'm going to my grandmother's this morning. She's not feeling well. I'll be back this afternoon," she said quickly, giving James a quick kiss and hurrying out the door. James vaguely wondered if she would be taking Muggle transportation.

He needed to fix his problem, though. Tonight. If he couldn't convince Lily that Sirius would be a perfectly satisfactory godparent (hell, he couldn't even convince himself of that), then he needed to soften the blow of giving someone else this title and soon.


End file.
